“What pains we take with our beds, robbing the nests of birds & their breasts – this shelter within a shelter…”
Henry D. Thoreau, Journal, Winter 1846
People spend approximately one third of their lives in bed, a simple fact reflected in the rich variety of household objects related to sleep and associated practices. What goes on behind the closed doors of the bedroom raises interesting questions of privacy, health, comfort, intimacy, status, and fashion that can be explored through objects as diverse as feather beds and cradles, nightgowns and high chests, coverlets and coffins.
While the rhythms of life from birth to death remain unchanged over centuries, domestic spaces and practices changed a good deal from the 17ththrough the 19th century. In response to factors ranging from prosperity and poverty, family size and advancing age, technological innovation, and the severity of seasons, the bed – that shelter within a shelter that Thoreau wrote about – has seen many variations.
The exhibition, on view at the Concord Museum from October 10, 2014 through March 22, 2015, was organized by Concord Museum Consulting Curators Jane and Richard Nylander. Dressing tables, necessary chairs, washstands, high chests, coffins, cradles, and adult cradles from the Concord Museum’s decorative arts collection and from the collections of Historic New England, Old Sturbridge Village, and other New England institutions were on display.
This on-line exhibition takes you Behind Closed Doors and brings together new material for an extraordinary experience. LEARN how to make a bed in the 18th century; EXPLORE surviving objects and important bed hanging restoration projects; DISCOVER new research about sleep, then and now.
Walk through Behind Closed Doors: Asleep in New England exhibition in the Wallace Kane Gallery at the Concord Museum. Installation photographs by Mary Orr.
Follow along on “Rooms with a Past” – a Concord Trail Guide of historic bedrooms (print and fold PDF to use).
Explore the Peter Cushing House Bedchamber in Hingham, Massachusetts, as depicted by Ella Emory in 1878; Courtesy of Historic New England.
Background photo: Interior Door, New England, 17th century, Concord Museum; Gift of Rosita Corey and Elizabeth Corey Bourquin in memory of their mother, Dorothy Peters Corey (2010) 2010.24. Photo by David Bohl.
Photo/film credits: Teri J. Pieper; Mary Orr; Six One Seven Studios
From the Cradle to the Grave
Many milestones of life are intimate affairs, transacted in bed or in the bed chamber. Such rooms are for sleep, but also the place for marital intercourse, to deliver a child and nurse the newborn, keep the body clean, care for the infirm, and sometimes, to die. The bed chamber provided some privacy for these activities and a host of textiles was used to make the space more comfortable, and for those who could afford it, more fashionable.
Learn more about “The First, Second, and Last Scene of Mortality,” in The Connecticut Historical Society’s collection.
Watch a video about artist Kiki Smith’s 2010 installation at the Brooklyn Museum, inspired by Prudence Punderson’s needlework.
Read Jane Nylander’s article, “From the Cradle to the Grave: Privacy and Comfort in New England Bedrooms 1675-1875.”
Background photo: “The First, Second, and Last Scene of Mortality,” by Prudence Punderson, Preston, Connecticut, 1780. Courtesy The Connecticut Historical Society, contact CHS for high quality digital images.
Privacy Please!
Privacy is to some degree a modern invention. In earlier times, parents shared beds with little children; siblings shared beds when more grown; visitors to a home might share beds with family members of the same gender; strangers shared beds in taverns. This is not to say that people were less modest; the opposite is more likely the case. Most people never undressed completely, sleeping in a shift or shirt. Bathing was more piecemeal than it is now: until the middle of the 19th century most people never bathed their whole body at once, opting instead to wash face, hands, and limbs with water from a basin.
Bed curtains provided some privacy in a room that might be regularly inhabited by others. Beds were used in rooms that also had furniture for eating, drinking, writing, and other activities, especially in summertime. The best bedchamber in a fashionable home would have just one bed, but other rooms might have several. Portable screens were sometimes employed to provide some privacy for bathing, dressing, and use of chamberpots. Taking care in the matter of timing would do the same; sometimes one could wait until no one else was in the room.
Read the latest research on how sleep may play a crucial role in our brain’s physiological maintenance.
Background photo: High Post Bed, early-19th century, Salem, Massachusetts, from “A collection of scale-drawings, details, and sketches of what is commonly known as colonial furniture,” by Alvan Crocker Nye, 1895, reprinted 1982.
For Teachers, Students, and Families
These activities are designed to be used either on their own or with the Concord Museum’s online exhibition Behind Closed Doors: Asleep in New England. They can be used in the classroom or at home to learn more about daily life during the 1700s and 1800s.
For more teacher and student resources visit our Education pages.
In the Bedroom — Guided Discussion
Introduce students to bedrooms in the 1800s by looking together at photographs of one of the Concord Museum’s period rooms. With suggestions for discussion questions and descriptions of specific objects, this activity allows students to develop their own ideas through close looking and open discussion.
Good Night, Sleep Tight — Brainstorming Activity
This activity encourages students to draw parallels between their own lives and those of children of the past. With room for students to illustrate the tasks that they perform each night before they go to bed, this lesson gives them information about how the same task might have been done differently during the 1700 and 1800s.
Sleeping in the Winter — Slideshow Presentation
This presentation complete with illustrations explores the challenges of sleeping in the wintertime while coping with cold temperatures. The clever methods that people used to keep warm include bed curtains and warming pans.
When I Think of Bedtime — Coloring Page/Writing
This activity gives children the opportunity to brainstorm freely about the many different images and memories that bedtime can evoke.
19th Century Bed — Coloring Page
With this coloring page, students can explore the intricate decoration of a bed from another time period.
Background photo: Friendship Quilt, Concord, 1847-49; Concord Museum, Gift of Mrs. Shirley K. Kearns (1961) T1310. Photo by David Bohl.
To Learn More
Read Eve Kahn’s article from the New York Times, “Museums Are Trying New Things in the Bedroom.”
Discover more about ideas of privacy and their evolution in an article from Colonial Williamsburg.
Explore one of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s treasures, The Great Bed of Ware.
Learn about The Lincoln Bedroom in the White House, a bedroom Abraham Lincoln never slept in!
Unlock history in the period rooms in the American Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Read more about American quilts and coverlets in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Explore Historic New England, the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. It was founded in 1910 to preserve and present the cultural and architectural heritage of New England, from historic properties to humble necessities, from art and artifacts to gardens and furniture.
Read Our Own Snug Fireside: Images of the New England Home, 1760-1860, a portrayal of home life in New England from the years preceding the American Revolution to the eve of the Civil War. Jane Nylander explores both everyday realities and the myths that have obscured them.
For Families
What’s your favorite book about bedtime? Here’s a reading list of classic children’s picture books about sleep, lullabies, and going to bed (print and fold PDF to use).
Just watched Night at the Museum? Want to sleep over in a museum? Here are some suggestions for Boston-area overnights.
Background photo: “Grandfather Emerson’s Bedroom,” by Edward Waldo Forbes (1873-1969); Concord, 1945; Concord Museum, Gift of Rosamond Forbes Pickhardt (1994) 1994.52. Photo by David Bohl.
Support
Consulting Curators
Jane C. Nylander, President Emerita of Historic New England
Richard C. Nylander, Curator Emeritus of Historic New England
This exhibition was made possible by
Lead Sponsor
Major foundation support from
And with generous support from
Anonymous
The Felicia Fund, Inc.
Lisa and George Foote, Jr.
Ann and John Webster, Jr.
Catherine and Scott Webster
Exhibition Lenders
Hancock Historical Society, Hancock, New Hampshire
Historic New England
New Hampshire Historical Society
Old Sturbridge Village
Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association
The Old Manse, a property of The Trustees of Reservations
Natalie and Bruce Larson
Jane and Richard Nylander
With special thanks to
Nancy J. Barnard, H-K Designs
Natalie Larson, Historic Textile Reproductions
Adelphi Paper Hangings
Adam T. Erby
Harris Higgins, Inc., Cabinetmaker
Sara Lundberg
Background photo: Quilt, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1837-38; Concord Museum, Gift of Mrs. Louis A. Sohier (1963) T1822. Photo by David Bohl.
Installation Photographs
Behind Closed Doors: Asleep in New England was on view in the Wallace Kane Gallery at the Concord Museum from October 10, 2014 to March 22, 2015. Photos by Mary Orr.
Background photo: Quilt, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1837-38; Concord Museum, Gift of Mrs. Louis A. Sohier (1963) T1822. Photo by David Bohl.
